You Did This Before
Photo by Sean Quillen on Unsplash
You can do it again.
One of the things I know about success is that reaching a goal is often just the beginning. To maintain success and to continue to evolve we often require a whole additional set of steps.
I have been successful in maintaining my weight loss through a combination of self monitoring, habits and behaviors, and more than anything, keeping it as a personal priority. As I have shared on these pages I monitor my weight closely and over the last few weeks it is higher than I like - and it is not budging. It is not the weight as much as its permanency that signals to me that I need to make some changes.
What has changed for me personally in these last 6-9 months? A lot! We moved and my new home has simplified my life and I love it (hooray!) but part of that simplicity means that it is literally less effort to bring in groceries, do yard work, clean or do laundry; so I am moving slightly less each day. It is also far easier to eat out or get takeout and we have taken advantage of that! Giving up my job at WW (formerly Weight Watchers) after ten years as a coach was a good decision, but it did eliminate regular contact with people and some of the only structure I had in my life. Finally, this website project has been going really well but every aspect of this kind of work is new to me.
In short, I am home more, with less structure, after a few big changes, moving less and eating out more. Additionally, it may just be time to tweak how I eat or how I move because I am a little older. That is not an excuse, it’s a fact. Sometimes we need to admit that what we are doing is not working, and that changes are needed.
Is it frustrating? Yes. Is this a universal part of weight management? For sure.
Here is what I am doing this week: tracking my food, practicing ACTUAL portion control instead of guesstimating, stepping up my cardio, eating more green vegetables, eating less when I do eat out, and increasing my water intake by one third. My previous experience tells me that each of these will help bring me back to where I want to be, and that they require little effort (really!).
Whether it is weight loss, or some other hurdle I have come across, the mindset is the same. Take an action. Be consistent. Be patient. Show up. Stay curious. Control what you can.
